Cameras have become an extremely popular commodity as they enable people to capture images of important moments in their lives and to eventually have a permanent record of these moments. The permanent records, whether prints or digital images, can then be revisited allowing one to visually re-live these important moments as frequently as desired.
Conventional chemical film based cameras are familiar to and owned by many people. Use of these cameras involves loading a chemical film into the camera and thereafter making a series of exposures of different parts of the film, typically 24 or 36 exposures are captured per film. Once all of the exposures have been taken, the film is usually brought to a film developing shop where photographic prints of the exposures are produced. This service usually takes a couple of days although faster development times are possible but only at an extra cost.
Although useful and easy to use, the conventional chemical film based camera has many drawbacks. That is to say, many of the users of these cameras are amateurs who are not completely certain of how, for example, to reduce or prevent the unflattering common phenomenon of ‘red-eye’ in pictures; or how to optimise the light in the area of interest in order to maximise the quality of the resulting prints; or how to correctly use a flash particularly near reflective objects. In this regard, it is only once the film has been developed and the money paid for this service, that the user can determine whether the film was worthwhile developing or not; previewing the photographic (captured) images is not a possibility. The generation of contact sheets used by professional photographers still requires developing of the film and is expensive. As it is not possible to preview the images as they are taken, people are not afforded the opportunity to experiment with their photography skills when using chemical film based cameras.
Furthermore, in order to share the prints with far-away family and friends, multiple copies of the prints have to be ordered. Although these can be ordered after the initial development by submitting only the relevant and worthwhile negatives of the prints, people tend to order multiple copies at the offset as it tends to be cheaper and easier, but in turn risk paying for say three copies of potentially low quality prints.
However, if a user has a chemical film developed and the resultant photographic prints are of a low quality for whatever reason, all is not lost thanks to the recent increase in the number of digital imaging shops. It is possible to bring the important but low quality prints to one of these shops where the prints, are scanned into a computer and modified as required, by removing unwanted red eye or glare for example. In this regard, a user can overcome some of the drawbacks which may occur as a result of the user's amateur photography for example. Photographic prints may also be submitted, simply to have decorative borders added or to have them printed onto one of a variety of materials such as canvas for example. However, although this is a helpful service, it can be extremely expensive.
On the other hand, if the user is fortunate enough to own a scanner and a personal computer (PC) they can scan the images into their PC, and if appropriate software has been downloaded onto their PC, they can modify the images as required. In this regard, they do not have to pay for the modifying service, but this is still expensive with the requirement of the user having access to a PC, scanner and digital imaging software. Also the time and effort taken in obtaining the desired prints may be prohibitive to the occasional user.
However, the above option of using a scanner is no longer necessary, as many digital imaging shops now offer a service whereby a user can have their chemical film based pictures placed onto a CD for viewing on a PC. For example, Kodak has developed a service whereby when a user has a chemical film developed, they can also request, as well as the normal prints and negatives, Kodak's Picture CD service in which digital versions of the prints are also recorded onto a compact disc for use in a PC. In this regard, the pictures can be viewed on the computer screen and furthermore can be modified as required. That is to say, the background lighting can be increased or decreased as necessary, or the amount of background in the photograph can be decreased making the relevant subject matter more prominent. Furthermore, if the user's PC is connected to the Internet, the images can be forwarded to friends and family as desired via e-mail. Also, if the user is fortunate enough to have a colour ink jet or laser printer, the images can be printed out giving the user a tangible, permanent record of the images. It is usually necessary to purchase expensive specialised paper for this task, as this improves the quality and durability of the resultant prints, though the results are not of as high a standard as conventional photographic prints.
In line with the development of digital imaging and digital imaging shops, there has been a rapid increase in the popularity of digital cameras which overcome many of the drawbacks associated with chemical film based cameras largely because they avoid the need for using chemical film altogether.
In contrast to chemical film based cameras and digital imaging possibilities that are now available, digital cameras provide a user with immediate access to images in digital form without the need for film processing or scanning as discussed above. In this regard, a user has the opportunity to experiment with their photography skills as they can see the end result immediately and can therefore quickly determine if their photographic experiment has been worthwhile. This allows them to learn easily and to subsequently develop their photography skills.
Many first generation digital cameras contain one or two megabytes of internal memory which is capable of storing a similar number of standard quality images as that of a role of chemical film. Once this memory is full, no further pictures can be taken until the memory is cleared by downloading the pictures onto a PC and deleting them from the camera. However, many modern digital cameras now use removable data storage in the form of a memory card or memory stick. Once such a memory card is full it can simply be removed and replaced by another memory card. The cost of such memory cards is high and this mitigates against the user having more than one or two cards at a time. The pictures are downloaded from the memory in the camera to a PC using a serial link and dedicated imaging software. Given the necessary PC hardware, memory cards can also be inserted directly into a PC and the photographic images stored thereon read as if from a floppy disk.
The general principle behind digital cameras is that pictures are taken with the camera and with some digital cameras a digitised copy of the picture is immediately displayed on a small viewer on the camera. For digital cameras without such a viewer the photographic images must be downloaded onto a PC for viewing. Irrespective of the type of digital camera employed, in order to have a detailed look at the photographic images they will ultimately need to be downloaded onto a PC; the viewers on digital cameras are often quite small and do not give a very clear image. As long as the relevant software has been downloaded onto the PC, a user will be able to modify the pictures. The extent of modification possible is directly related to the quality and type of software which has been downloaded onto the PC. Once again, if the PC is connected to the Internet, the images can be sent via e-mail to family and friends whom are also connected to the Internet.
The digital camera, or the memory card itself, may also be brought to a digital imaging shop to enable more professional modifications to be made to the pictures, and/or to have prints made of the pictures; numerous possibilities are available in this regard.
The main drawback associated with digital cameras, and digital imaging in general, is that the PC is targeted as the computing platform for viewing the digitised images. PCs are an extremely expensive commodity which many cannot afford and so these people are immediately isolated from many of the benefits associated with digital imaging. Also, PCs require dedicated software to be installed on the PC which is subsequently loaded into RAM under user control in order to enable viewing. Once this software is loaded, a user must then be able to implement the relevant program and to navigate through it. This takes time, effort and a certain amount of skill which serves to deter many from using the PC for digital imaging and indeed in general. Furthermore, installing the software on the PC in the first place can be a difficult and error prone process.
For those who own and/or have access to a PC, they are often used for work related issues. In this regard, PCs in the home are usually situated in quiet, functional rooms such as a study for example, which encourage work and concentration. A quiet study, is not an ideal environment for relaxing and leisurely viewing holiday photographs for example and this is another reason why many have not embraced the technology of digital cameras and other digital imaging techniques.